09 May 2012
The dreaded ‘r’ word does not seem to have the same devastating effect that it had in 2008 and I believe there is good reason why.
I am, of course, talking about recession and the recent figures that showed we have had two negative quarters of GDP.
In all honesty, I have never been one to get bogged down by the actual technicalities of what makes a recession and what doesn’t but what bothers me is its affect on confidence.
While we all know there were serious problems in 2008, the country was set in a downward spiral because you could not turn on the TV, pick up a paper or listen to the radio without hearing ‘experts’ talking about recession.
So far, that seems to have been avoided or, at least, toned down compared with four years ago.
It doesn’t mean we bury our heads in the sand because we know the construction industry has been particularly hard hit over the past four or five years and I would suggest that by improving the fortunes of construction, the whole economy would feel the benefit.
I also know that there are positive signs among specialist companies within our industry.
Here at D-Drill, we are seeing the benefit of investment in people and technology over the past few years and are consistently growing.
I was also delighted to see the National Specialist Contractors Council release figures that suggested an increase in enquiries and orders across the industry at the start of this year.
That’s certainly how it feels on the ground and I do hope that this time round we focus on what it takes to grow rather than only focusing on the negative.
In business, so many key decisions are based on confidence and, while being realistic, we must do all we can to accentuate the positive.
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